McLaughlin of Derry - Family mystery

[jacqui63m]

Can anyone help me with the following mystery:

Tracing my family tree I have found, what appears to be 3 siblings, all with the same parents names and same address:

1- Catherine McLaughlin who died 31 Jan 1876 (buried City Cemetery Derry)
     Parents Matthew McLaughlin & Margery Friel of Hamilton St Derry.
     She was abt 1wk old when she died giving a birth date of approx 24 Jan 1876

2- Michael McLaughlin born 30 Jan 1876
    Parents Matthew McLaughlin & Margery Friel of Hamilton St Derry.

3- Matthew McLaughlin born 22 Feb 1876
    Parents Matthew McLaughlin & Margery Friel of Hamilton St Derry.

So you can see my dilemma.
Catherine born 24 Jan 1876, Michael born 30 Jan 1876 and Matthew born 22 Feb 1876

Even if I allow for Catherine and Michael being twins, what about Matthew?

I found Catherine's death details from the City Cemetery Derry and yet I can find no record of birth anywhere.
I found Matthew's birth details from RootsIreland and FamilySearch.org
I found Michael's birth details from St Columba's Long Tower Church Derry who, as of yet, cannot find details on Catherine or Matthew's birth.

Can anyone help me?

Jacqui

[aghadowey]

Certainly is a bit of a mystery!

Extracted births-
Sarah (13 Mar.1865) https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FR9V-V6D
Annie Jane (27 Feb.1868) https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F58B-HM2
James (16 July 1871) https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F5NW-1VM
Eliza (27 Sept.1873) https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FPBX-5VQ
Matthew (22 Feb.1876) https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FR7K-V8S
Andrew (2 June 1877) https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGDM-QF8

Pure speculation but wonder if Catherine & Michael are the same child & he/she was twin with Matthew? perhaps the parents didn't realise the birth should have been registered even in the child died (and perhaps the baby buried 31 Jan,1876 was 1 day old rather than 1 week),

[jacqui63m]

Hi Aghadowey,

Thank you for your reply.
This is so confusing and even more frustrating. The Matthew you listed is the Matthew in question!!
And you'll see too that Catherine and Michael are not listed!!!

His birth is Feb 1876 and yet Michael and Catherine's is Jan 1876. It's possible that Michael and Catherine were twins but that doesn't explain Matthew.

I doubt I'll resolve this little mystery but I would love to all the same.

All the best and thanks again

Jacqui

[aghadowey]

Think I didn't explain my 'wild' theory properly 

Say twins were born in January 1876.
Twin One (male)- baptised as Michael at Long Tower but registered as Matthew (perhaps priest wrote down wrong name or parents changed their mind when birth registered). If registrar asked 'when was child born?' maybe the informant said 'on the 22nd' (meaning January 22). Date of birth registration might confirm or eliminate this idea.
Twin Two (female) died aged 1 week and buried as Catherine (so born c24 January). Perhaps the parents didn't realise they should have reported her birth when registering the son's birth since she was already dead. Have you looked for 'Catherin's' death registration yet?

[MargP]

Hi

I wonder if these are, the day they were christened, and not there actual birth dates

Margp

[jacqui63m]

LOL sorry

I see now what you mean. It's almost midnight here and I obviously need some sleep. LOL

I haven't checked Catherine's death registration yet but I think I should. It may help, even partly, this 'wee' mystery.

Thanks for all your help.

All the very best

Jacqui

[jacqui63m]

Hi MargP

From what I can tell, births but they may well be baptism dates.
Aghadowey just came up with a few ideas which I will look into and hopefully get some answers to this little mystery

Thank you for getting in touch

Jacqui

[aghadowey]

The names & dates in reply #1 (which includes Matthew) are extracted birth records.

[Stairheedrammy]

I had contacted the same Church for similar help and while they were fantastic in digging out my family records they advised that the dates they gave were probably baptism dates and not birth dates, as that is what they seemed to record at the time- frequently though this would be as soon as possible after the birth, probably due to the high infant mortality rates